Vertical Profile Display Weather Blocks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current aircraft weather systems lack an effective way to present three-dimensional weather information relative to altitude, making it difficult for pilots to navigate safely through adverse weather conditions.
Innovation Solution
A vertical profile display system that uses weather blocks to indicate weather conditions in a volume of space, with primary and secondary weather distinctions, generated by processing radar reflectivity data and other weather information to provide a graphical user interface showing weather severity and altitude, enabling better situational awareness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If traditional weather display systems are used, then the system complexity is low, but the ability to present three-dimensional weather information relative to altitude is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dimensionality change by transitioning from traditional two-dimensional weather maps to a three-dimensional vertical profile display. The system renders weather data in a vertical cross-section showing altitude, horizontal distance, and weather intensity, enabling pilots to visualize storm structure and navigate around hazardous weather more effectively.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments weather data into discrete volumetric elements or pixels in the vertical profile display. Each element represents a specific volume of space with particular weather characteristics, allowing the system to process and display complex three-dimensional weather information in manageable, renderable units.
2Loss of information
If detailed weather data is displayed, then situational awareness is improved, but the ease of operation is reduced due to information overload
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating the display characteristics of weather elements based on their properties. Different weather intensities, types, and locations are represented with varying visual characteristics such as color coding, shading, and symbolic representation, allowing pilots to quickly identify hazardous areas without being overwhelmed by uniform detailed data.
Data Source
AI summary
A vertical profile display includes weather information for an aircraft. In some examples, the weather is displayed in the vertical profile display as a plurality of weather blocks, each block indicating the weather in a volume of space associated with the block. In addition, in some examples, the vertical profile display shows a vertical profile view of a flight path of the aircraft and includes indications of primary weather and secondary weather, where the indication of primary weather is visually distinct from the indication of secondary weather.